Resau, Laura. What the moon saw.

RESAU, Laura. What the moon saw. Random House, Delacorte. 272p. c2006. 0-385-73343-7. $15.95. (Library ed. 0-385-90360-X. $17.99.) J

Clara Luna is a 14-year-old Mexican American girl. As the full moon rises in the spring, she is restless, wandering out at night and walking through the woods outside her house in Maryland. When her parents discover she is outside, they are distraught. And when a letter arrives from Clara's grandparents in the mountains of Mexico, her parents realize she needs to go and spend time with them to understand her heritage.

Clara's father had come into the US as an illegal alien. He worked hard and married his English teacher, Clara's mother. He never spoke much about his home in Mexico, and so Clara doesn't know what to expect. What she finds is a village quite unlike anything she has known and yet a place in which she feels surprisingly at home; in fact she fits right into the simple village life. Though readers may have a hard time believing the ease with which she does this, Clara's experiences and her grandmother's story of growing up as a healer are entirely captivating. The intertwining of Clara's restlessness with the story of her grandmother's apprenticeship with herbs and treatments gives insight into a culture and heritage quite different from modern Maryland. Clara also makes friends with Pedro, the son of a man who left his family for the promise of a better life in the US. Along with the cultural heritage of the Oaxaca region is the role that restlessness has played in the lives of families there. This is a beautifully told story of finding oneself by holding on to ancient traditions. Janis Flint-Ferguson, Assoc. Prof., English, Gordon College, Wenham, MA

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.